


I'll be here until you're okay

by lilllac



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 04:48:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30033300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilllac/pseuds/lilllac
Summary: With a hug, Nico set her wounds on fire in a way that no war had ever done. With a hug, Nico broke down her walls. And what was left behind them were wounds, too old for him to heal.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo & Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano
Kudos: 11





	I'll be here until you're okay

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [I'll be here until you're okay](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/776289) by Lilllac. 



> English isn't my first language. I apologize for all mistakes to be found.

It was raining outside, and the storm dripped torrentially against the windows of Reyna's room. The place was submerged in a dull half-light, and Nico felt a thick, cold layer, resting over his skin like a coat. There was a kind of lethargic hesitation in knowing that this was a unique, _fragile_ moment. That any mistep would crack the little glass dome that protected them now.

But Reyna had taught him something. True courage could only exist when someone took the risk that others could not.

She had her back to him, staring at the window, curled up on herself like he had never seen it before. It seemed so fundamentally wrong. That, of all people, Reyna felt the need to diminish herself. Even there, all alone.

He felt his throat tight, an unprecedented discomfort taking place in his heart. Nico considered himself someone who could read others. He had learned from Annabeth, the best of all. But then, he noticed that, for a long time, he had seen Reyna the way she wanted them to see her. Tall, imposing. Wholeheartdly herself. When, in reality, she was as human as all of them.

Certainly, there was a price to be paid for false perfection. Some horrible exchange between her and the universe, which devoured her by the edges.

The door hinges creaked lazily when he pushed them back, making a muffled sound when it closed, but Reyna made no move, and Nico approached. His hand found the bed sheet, cold under his fingers, and he twisted the fabric.

Reyna shivered. "What are you doing here?"

Her voice was a perfect contrast to her appearance. Nico imagined it was easier to pretend greatness when she didn't have to look him in the eye.

"Reyna."

"Please go away," she pleaded, bringing her arms around her body. "I want to be alone."

He nodded "I understand, but I wanted to tell you something first."

 _Silence_. Nico thought that was his cue to continue. He took a deep breath and slid his hand until he touched her hips lightly. He felt Reyna tremble, surprised.

"I've been to the underworld many times. And yet, I think nothing can compare to the pain we feel up here,” he said, in a low, soft voice. "You've seen mine once. I want you to know that I'm here if I need to share yours."

Reyna sobbed. A broken sound, of a broken spirit, and her shoulders started to shake. Nico raised his other hand, unsure of what to do in a situation so foreign to him, but then the girl turned to face him, and Nico lost all of his thoughts.

The tears had dissolved some of the blood, but there were still had dry, brownish patches stuck to her scarred skin. Strands of ebony hair were stuck around her eyes, drenched with sweat and rainwater. Her mouth trembled, bubbling with feelings that she couldn't express.

Her eyes were the most mind-boggling part. There was none of the coldness and authority from before. They were wild, lost. As his had once been.

Tears welled up again and ran down her cheeks, and Nico could see her throat constrict to hold a sob, her skin all scratched and bruised.

He had no idea what types of battles Reyna had to fight. He could imagine a dozen monsters (and people) that could smash her body like that, but none that could hurt her mind that much.

Maybe Nico didn't know her as well as he thought he did.

There was blood on her clothes. Under her nails. Soot and dirt covered almost the entire SPQR symbol on her purple blouse. Almost as if it was erasing her identity. Cuts and scrapes filled her arms and knees, and he noticed how the garment had been rolled up. A bandage banded around her torso, equally stained with blood, slowly extending from a wound on the side.

"I don't know what else to do," she revealed.

Nico didn't know it either. For a long time, Reyna had helped him, time after time, to pick up the pieces. For a long time, she had read his heart like an open book.

So, he did the only thing he could. Heis fingers spread the wet strands of her bangs, pushing them to the top of her head, and their foreheads came together, feeling the damp chill of her skin upon his. Dark brown piercing the obsidian as he locked Reyna's gaze with his. She let the tears fall, sobbing.

Her hands went up to his shoulders, looking for a solid spot where she could hold on and let the rest of her fade away.

"When you don't know what to do," Nico replied, reluctantly. "Just stay with me."

He held her against him, feeling the waves that her crying made, listening to his friend's heartbeat in his chest, and felt his own eyes watering.

He knew they were fighting a meaningless war. There was no reason to fight against the pain of an irreversible fate like theirs. The mortal world did not belong to them, and the mythological did not want them either. What was left, then?

They needed each other, as they were the only thing that was true for them.

Nico couldn't feel people's emotions as Reyna did, but he knew that he had never understood anyone better in his life than he did in that moment.

With a hug, Nico set her wounds on fire in a way that no war had ever done. With a hug, Nico broke down her walls. And what was left behind them were wounds, too old for him to heal.

New Rome would stay in this world for much longer than she did. Cohorts would change names and leaders in the same way that the streets were paved and the leaders came about. One day, Reyna would wake up in a world that was no longer hers, just as Nico had awakened in a life that hardly resembled the one he had known before entering the Casino.

One day, they wouldn't be there anymore. One day, Nico would look for her in the underworld, just as he looked for Bianca. One day, Reyna would be waiting for him on the other side.

For today, all he wanted was to close her wounds and tell her that the weight of the world was not hers to carry.

All he wanted was for Reyna to let him help.

The rain continued to fall outside, the monsters were still hungry for meat, as they always would be. The demigods in dark alleys hiding from a monster or a prophecy, suffering from tiredness and loneliness.

For now, however, their world was going to have to do without them. For Nico would not leave until her tears stopped and her wounds healed.

And when there would be new ones - and there would always be new ones - he would be there again. As many times as she needed him to be.


End file.
